The Bruins netminder has been nothing short of spectacular in the early going of the Stanley Cup final, posting a 2-0 shutout on Monday as Boston took a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Blackhawks have managed just one goal in the last two games.

“Look to the series we had against Detroit. We had a little time where we had trouble scoring goals, and sometimes it happens,” said Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. “(That) goaltender’s got a lot of confidence, they’re playing well around him, and we’ve just got to be better and work harder for those loose pucks.

“We’ve done it before, and we’ll find a way to do it now.”

When the playoffs began, there were questions about Rask. He hadn’t impressed in the playoffs when he was the designated starter in 2010. It was Tim Thomas who was in net for the Bruins’ Cup win in 2011.

And in the first round, Rask was rattled by the Maple Leafs. Toronto put up 18 goals in seven games. Since, he has only allowed 17 combined to the Rangers, Penguins and now the Blackhawks.

After seven games against the Leafs, Rask had a .923 save percentage, 2.49 goals-against average. In the 12 games following, his save percentage is .959 and GAA is 1.21.

Now he got his third shutout of the post-season, facing 28 shots. There weren’t many quality scoring chances.

“I’ve gotten used to that already during these playoffs,” said Rask. “There’s been a lot of games like this that you don’t get quality opportunities, then all of a sudden, there’s four or five of them.

But, I mean, you’re playing the last five minutes of the game, you know they’re going to throw everything at you, what they possibly can. That’s the case.

“Got the penalty there. Got a little lucky there, one save off my blade and the post. For the most part I think we kept them outside, blocked a lot of shots, took care of the rebounds. That’s always a positive sign in my mind.”

MONKEY MAN: Boston’s Jaromir Jagr set up Patrice Bergeron’s power-play goal in the second period that gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead. The assist increased Jagr’s career playoff point total to 197 (78 goals, 119 assists), moving him past Paul Coffey (59-137--196) and into sole possession of fifth place on the NHL’s all-time playoff points list.

Jagr, however, is still goal-less in the playoffs. Asked if he wanted to get that monkey off his back, he answered: “I love the monkey, man.”

SPARK PLUG: Daniel Paille scored the winning goal in Games 2 and 3, marking the first time since 2006 that a player scored the game-winning-goal in consecutive games in the Cup final. Edmonton’s Fernando Pisani did it against Carolina in Games 5 and 6 that year.

For Paille, it was his fourth goal of the playoffs (19 games). Three have been game-winners. He had four goals in his previous 46 playoff games.

Tyler Seguin has recorded an assist in each of the first three games of the Stanley Cup final, equaling his total from the first 16 games of the playoffs.

HOME ICE ADVANTAGE: The Bruins won their seventh consecutive home game and improved to 8-2 at TD Garden in the 2013 playoffs. The Blackhawks dropped to 3-5 on the road this post-season.

The Bruins have won each of their four Stanley Cup Final games played at TD Garden, outscoring the opposition 19-3 (17-3 vs. Vancouver in 2011, 2-0 vs. Chicago in 2013).

SPECIAL TEAMS: Boston killed off all five Chicago power plays in Game 3 and now has killed off 27 consecutive penalties dating to Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, including all 11 Chicago opportunities through the first three games of the Stanley Cup final. The Bruins have an 88.9 per cent penalty-kill rate during the 2013 playoffs (56-for-63), including an 88.6 per cent mark at home (31-for-35).

Chicago went 0-for-5 on the power play in Game 3 and has not scored a power-play goal in its last 20 chances dating to Game 2 of the Western Conference Final. The Blackhawks have a 11.3 per cent power-play success rate this postseason (7-for-62), including a 3.7 per cent mark on the road (1-for-27).

FACE OFF: Led by Patrice Bergeron, who won 24 of 28 draws, the Bruins dominated the face-off circle in Game 3, posting a 71.4 per cent winning percentage (40-16). The Bruins led the league in face-off percentage during the regular season (56.4 per cent) and passed San Jose into first place among 2013 playoff clubs (56.1 per cent).

Bergeron was the NHL’s top individual face-off performer during the regular season, posting a 62.1 per cent success rate. He also leads the league in the postseason (62.7 per cent).

TRENDS: Teams winning Game 3 after splitting the first two games of the Final have gone on to win the Stanley Cup 21 of 25 times (84.0 per cent) since the Final adopted the best-of-seven format in 1939. The four teams in that scenario to win the Stanley Cup after losing Game 3 were the 1964 Maple Leafs (seven games, vs. Detroit), 1989 Flames (six games, vs. Montreal), 1991 Penguins (six games, vs. Minnesota) and 2004 Lightning (seven games, vs. Calgary).

The Bruins improved to 4-0 in Game 3s this postseason. The Blackhawks fell to 0-4.

Home teams have won the last 10 Game 3s in the Stanley Cup Final. The last road team to win a Game 3 in the Final was the 2002 Red Wings over the Hurricanes (3-2 in 3OT).

WHAT THE COACHES SAY

JOEL QUENNEVILLE, Blackhawks: “It’s a low-chance game. It’s a low-chance series. Scoring first is important, even though the winners of the last couple games prior to that didn’t score first. It’s hard to get A-plus chances. You have to manufacture the second, kind of ugly goals, tip screens, deflections. If they give up the rush, they’re not going to give up much, even though we had a couple looks in the third. The frequency of having high-quality chances in this series at both ends has not been there.”

CLAUDE JULIEN, Bruins: “We’ve got to continue playing our best hockey and at the same time we’ve got to continue to try to fix the little things that we feel can be better in our game. We’re not a satisfied group. Whether it’s through wins or through games, we try and I guess better ourselves in certain areas. That’s what we got to continue to do. Again, I can’t say enough about that team we’re playing. They’ve got great speed, great skill. Our goaltender continues to be good for us. Our guys continue to do a good job back-checking and we’re finding ways to score goals.”

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